While on the one hand food is being wasted in enormous quantities, millions are suffering from hunger. How does that fit together?
Households around the world throw away food equivalent to more than a billion meals every day, according to a new United Nations study. At the same time, more than 780 million people in the world are affected by hunger, and a third of humanity is aware of the lack of food, according to a UN report. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) presented the paper on the “Day of Zero Waste” on Saturday.
“Food waste is a global tragedy,” emphasized UNEP Director Inger Andersen at the presentation in Nairobi. This doesn’t just apply to the gap between abundance and scarcity – waste also has an impact on the climate and nature.
The report’s figures are based on the year 2022. According to this, each person wasted an average of 79 kilograms of food per year. The data also shows that food waste is not just a problem in rich countries. It is a global problem that also requires global solutions. For example, in countries with hot climates, a higher proportion of spoiled and therefore unused food can be observed due to interrupted cold chains.
Overall, households are responsible for the largest share of unused food at around 60 percent – followed by catering and retail. The data also shows that waste is lower in rural areas than in cities. This was mainly attributed to composting or feeding to livestock. However, there is still too little precise country data on wasted food worldwide, according to the authors of the report.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
